The Light Must Fade
by Neutral Ground
Summary: An alternate version of Dragon Age II, with new and modified events. Follow Angelique Hawke as she navigates a tumultuous life in the City of Chains-while harbouring a dark secret that, if discovered, would ensure she would never know a moment's peace. Can she find a life along the way-is it even possible she can find love?


_Howdy folks! This is the beginning of a new story for me, that will basically seek to retell and modify the events of Dragon Age II. If you've read either Beyond the fire or DragonRise, this is kind of going to be a similar creature to that; the characters and situations are all roughly the same, but I'm going to be adding and modifying things to (hopefully) make things more interesting._

_I'm not sure how much attention I'll be able to give to The Light Must Fade, since I'm still busily working on Beyond the Fire: DragonRise (and about a half-dozen other projects), but I hope to update at the very least once monthly. At any rate, I hope you enjoy what's in store._

_Thanks for reading,_

_Neutral Ground_

\-…

Prologue

"Okay, now close your eyes then count to thirty! No peeking! You've got to find me fair and square."

Those had been Bethany's last words to her. It hadn't taken her long to find her sister; Bethany always hid in the same place, beneath an oak tree on top of a small hill. Ann knew she'd find her there, expected to spend minutes pretending not to be able to see her on the other side of the tree's broad, cragged trunk. She didn't expect to find her sister's lifeless body resting in the grass, her eyes open and rolling in the back of her head. When she reached out with one trembling hand to feel her sister's forehead, her flesh was hot to the touch and sweaty. Ann tried to think, but she found her mind was freezing, her body locking up.

Father. Father would know what to do, father knew about magic and all sorts of thing, and he _loved_ Bethany, he could—

But she couldn't move. She couldn't leave Bethany here, she couldn't just leave her alone to die. She knew what this was, what it must have been. She must have been daydreaming, or fallen asleep, and something in the Fade had taken her. Something was taking her right now.

Her entire body was shaking violently, but she cupped her sister's cheek in one hand, as though that would help. She prayed, desperately, to anyone who would listen, for them to bring her sister back. Tears blurred her vision and she wished more than anything that she could know what to do. She pulled her sister's body close to hers, willing her to come back to her.

But it didn't work. Nothing did, until suddenly she was growing tired against her will, falling into some deep sleep in her sister's arm. She knew she couldn't, but at the same time … she knew that she had to.

_You've got to find me. Fair and square._

XXX

She knew at once that she was home, but not home. The building was like the dwelling they shared with their mother and father and Carver, but it wasn't the same. She knew it wasn't the same.

No one else was here. As Ann walked through the home that wasn't her home, her bare feet padded softly against the splintering wooden floor. She looked down in surprise: she always wore shoes in the house. She had taken them off to run in the grass … earlier today.

_I'm in the Fade. _But that was impossible. She wasn't a mage, she was sure she wasn't. Father had tried so hard to find out if she had shared his gift, and she never had. But it was the Fade. She knew that, just like she knew this house wasn't their home, just like she had known that Bethany hadn't been sleeping. The house was quiet, but she knew that was a lie, too. There were three rooms in the house: the large, open one with the oven fire, where Ann slept, the smaller room that Carver and Bethany shared, and the larger room that their parents slept in. It was a small home. It was all they could afford.

She slid open the door to Bethany's room. Bethany was lying on the bed, her eyes rolling, sweat beading down her face. Her father was sitting on the bed, one hand holding her sister's.

Except it wasn't her father.

"Who are you?"

"It's Father, sweetheart," the figure said. Ann snorted.

"Father doesn't call me sweetheart."

The figure stared at her for a while, at first looking almost concerned. But then his expression shifted into a snide grin, so unlike the guileless Malcolm she knew.

"Was that really all it took to give it away?"

"No. This place is wrong."

"Wrong? Who's to say it's wrong? Why, this is my home…." The figure had looked back to Bethany, now stroking her forehead gently. "And this is my daughter. Or she might as well be."

"She's not yours."

The figure looked at her and grinned.

"She's not yours either. Not anymore."

"She won't be any good to you," Ann said, sudden inspiration striking her. Her mind was racing, but she felt a strange coolness in her thoughts, carefully assessing the situation. She knew what this was, what he had to be. A demon. But what kind….

"It doesn't matter what good she is to me," the demon said dismissively, "It matters what I'll be able to do with her."

_Pride._

"You won't be able to do much with her," Ann promised. "She's weak and frail and gentle. Try and have any real fun and everyone will notice in a heartbeat."

"Is that what you think I do?" The demon demanded, his face suddenly turning feral. "'Have fun'?"

"I think you won't be able to have anything if you possess _her_." She was surprised at how calm she was. She had always been calm, but she knew that kids were supposed to be scared in situations like this. Useless and panicking. Not like her. She'd always known that kids weren't supposed to be like her. That was what her mother wanted to say, but couldn't. That Ann was too different. Too unlike the children she'd always wanted.

"What I can have or can't doesn't matter now. I'm bound to your realm through her—and I'm not going back to the Fade." The figure's grin split wide, and now she saw fangs in his mouth. Good. He was showing her what he really was. She wasn't afraid.

_You've got to find me, fair and square._

"I'm not saying you have to. I'm saying pick someone else." Ann chose her words carefully. Not too flattering—but just flattering enough. He still had the power.

"You would trade yourself for her?" The demon sneered, getting to his feet and disregarding Bethany altogether. It was uncanny how the change seemed almost slow—first his eyes began to glow, then his teeth seemed to sharpen, until suddenly he was titanic and massive before her, huge and muscular, twisted spines and horns jutting from his arms and skull like a twisted crown.

"With certain conditions."

"Name them," the demon snorted. He was dismissive of her, contemptuous, even though he could tell she was stronger. She wasn't the mage Bethany was, but she was something else. Something he could use. Something he wanted.

"You leave my sister alone, fully."

"So be it."

"And you can take my form."

"Agreed," the Demon said.

"Then we're done. That's the deal. Leave her."

"Oh, I think I'll like my home."

_I'm not so sure you will._

XXX

She woke in the quiet of Bethany and Carver's room, long after all the others. Sweat clung to her clothes and hair. Bethany was lying in her own bed; their parents must have laid Ann in Carver's. Bethany was on her side, but her breathing was slow, and normal. She was asleep. Alone.

_**Like you will never be.**_

___Neither will you,_ Ann pointed out. She heard the demon laughing in her mind and felt a sharp pain in her right hand, from where she'd been holding Bethany's cheek. She grabbed her right hand with her other and forced her eyes shut.

_**You are mine, human. Now and forever.**_

___I only said you could take my form. Not anything else._

_**What?**_

___Didn't think about our deal too hard? You were _desperate_, because you knew you'd die in my sister. You knew your time was running out._

_**No!**_

___Possess me, if you're so sure._

_**I am possessing you! You are mine!**_

___Then make me do something. Make me kill Bethany._

A sudden shudder went down her spine, and she felt the pain in her hand again. There were whispers, overwhelming whispers in her ear, and she almost felt her hand wanting to twitch towards Bethany, to her throat. But she didn't. It was her hand, and no matter how loud the whispers grew, no matter how much her skin itched or her mind throbbed, she wouldn't do what he wanted. Not while she still had control.

_**No! How have you done this?**_

___I'm not the one who made a deal they didn't think about,_ Ann thought, a sick grin spreading onto her face as she curled herself into a ball beneath the sheets. _I'm not the one who gave up a real mage for a talentless kid. I'm not the one who has to sit and watch in the back of my head._

_**You'll never be strong enough to resist me forever**_, the demon promised, his voice sweet and enticing again. Ann ignored it.

_We'll both be useless if I don't get any sleep. I need to hide you from mother and father or we'll both go._

That shut the demon up. She could feel it thinking in the back of her mind, though its thoughts were obscured to her. It was an old creature, powerful and clever. She would have to be smarter. That was okay. She was good at being smart, and right now she held all the cards. She'd have to give some up; the demon would make her, she knew that. She would just have to be careful about what she gave. As she thought the demon had fallen into sullen silence, her mind flared with his alien voice again.

_**My name is Hubris.**_

___Mine is Angelique. Call me Ann._

XXX

She must have fainted. That was what her family said—Mother, and Father, and especially Carver, who teased her endlessly about it. Bethany, of course, had gotten lost in the Fade, while Ann must have collapsed at the sight of her sister twitching and rolling. It was lucky, Father said, that Bethany hadn't brought anything back.

_**How did any of **_**them **_**ever create **_**you**, Hubris sneered, as her Father was reminding Bethany how lucky she'd been. They were eating stew at the dinner table, all of them talking—except Ann. She was forcing herself to eat, trying to keep up the conversation with the voice inside her head. She couldn't let him have the last word on anything. She couldn't let him win anything.

Not even when he was trying to flatter her.

_I'm not that different._

_**Yes you are**_, Hubris insisted. _**Look at them, all blind, hiding from one another. You're the only one who sees the truth. Your mother hates this little hovel. Your brother is jealous of your sister. Your sister is scared of herself.**_

___That's not true, _Ann insisted, cursing herself. She knew where Hubris had got those thoughts. From her.

_**You can't lie to me,**_ Hubris said. _**In a way I'm glad. I would have tainted myself by associating with **_**her**.

_Don't say that about Bethany!_

"Ann! Are you all right?" Mother sounded concerned. Ann looked up from the stew and tried to force a smile onto her face. It was sickly and wrong.

"Yes, Mother. Just a headache. May I be excused?"

"Of course, dear."

Ann murmured her thanks and quickly left the table, immediately leaving their home and running outside. Their home was at the edge of Lothering, near the vast fields that surrounded the village. She ran back to the Oak Tree, where she and Bethany always played hide-and-seek. Where Bethany had hidden herself. Ann laid back in the grass and looked up at the sky. It was clear, and blue, and the sun was shining. It was beautiful.

_**You can't stand being around them**_.

_I can't stand _you_ being around them._

_**It amounts to the same thing now. I'm not going to go away. Not until you are truly **_**mine.**

_I'll never be yours._

_**Demons are more patient than humans**_, Hubris promised her. She knew he wasn't lying. She could always tell when people lied. And demons, she was learning, were a lot like humans. Everyone had their weaknesses. Demons just wore theirs on their sleeves.

"Ann? Ann!"

Ann looked down the hill towards their home. Bethany was calling for her, shielding her eyes against the sun. Ann pushed herself onto her elbows and waited. Bethany ran up to her, but slowed as she approached. She was paler than usual, her eyes darting between Ann and the tree.

"I know what happened." That was all she said. All she needed to.

"I'm not possessed," Ann insisted, trying not to snap. It was hard to focus on the world outside when she had what felt like a constant debate inside her head. "I'm in control."

"Of a demon?!" Bethany screamed. She was three years younger than her, only a twelve-year-old. Ann had to remember that. It made sense for her to be scared.

"He tried to make a deal. He didn't think the terms through," Ann muttered, through clenched teeth. She closed her eyes. Hubris was roaring with rage in the back of her mind.

"How could you _do_ something like that?"

Ann looked at her.

"Because if I hadn't, he would have taken you."

"And now he's taken _you_! I know how demons work, Ann, you can't just trick them like that!"

"I listen to Father too, Beth. What, do you think I'm a demon pretending to be your sister?"

"I don't know," Bethany muttered. She looked away, as though she were embarrassed. "You've been really quiet and angry lately."

"I'm not trying to be, Beth. I just—I have to keep the demon quiet." Ann lay back on the grass and looked up at the sky. She liked the sky, especially on days like this, when it was bright and clear. It almost drowned out Hubris's grumbling in her mind. "It's a nice day out, today."

"Angelique, there has to be something we can _do_," Bethany insisted, her voice shaking. She was near tears. Her voice always shook when she was about to cry. Ann propped herself back up again.

"I don't think so, Beth. You wanna lie down?"

Bethany didn't say anything. Ann smiled a little easier this time.

"Promise I won't bite."

Bethany lay down next to her in the grass and they both looked up at the sky. It really was a beautiful day. A perfect, sunny day. With a jolt, Ann realized that it was the first one Hubris had ever seen. For the first time he was completely silent. After a while, the silence was broken by the soft, gentle sound of Bethany's tears. Ann sat up and put her back to the tree, brushing one hand through her sister's hair. Suddenly, Bethany rushed her and hugged her, surprising Ann and, frighteningly, causing Hubris to burn with some sickening, dark emotion. She couldn't know what it was, but it passed as quickly as it came. She tried to pretend it hadn't happened.

"I'm so sorry, Ann! This is all my fault, it's all my fault, and now you're—"

"I'm fine. I'm fine, Beth. I have this under control, and you're safe. That's all that matters."

"It's not. You matter too."

Another jolt, this time unmistakeable: pride. Ann ignored it and hugged Bethany close.

"All right. Then we both get to matter together, okay? I can't tell anyone, Beth. They'll—you know what they'll do. They'll say I'm an abomination."

"You're _not_."

"I know I'm not," Ann said, smiling weakly, "I have a demon in my head who's furious about that."

"Don't joke about it."

"Sorry. I'm sorry you have to keep the secret. I know you hate secrets."

"I'm used to it. I don't like it, but I'm used to it."

"I love you Bethany. I'll always be by your side," Ann promised. "Always."

_**Petty attachment**_, Hubris sneered.

"I love you too, Ann. And I—I'll do my best. I promise."

As she held Bethany in her arms, she felt Hubris in her mind. As she was aware of the warmth of her sister's body, she was aware of the burning, sneering fire she'd come to associate with the demon, always lurking at the edge of consciousness. As she was aware of the beautiful, blue sky and the fat yellow sun, she remembered the Fade, and the house that was not their home. In that moment, in that last innocent moment, she realized her life would never be simple again.


End file.
